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Stomp's guide to epic, hints and tips for noobies.

Since our original guides/ observations whilst learning the game ourselves was lost with the forum crash i thought it's be a good idea to formulate a new and improved basic epic guide, especially given the level of interest there's been recently.

Anyone else feel free to chip in with any additional points i may have forgotten or could be improved on, or if there any questions, feel free to ask.

Army selection:

The average tournament esq game is set at around 3000 pts and this should be the level you're aiming for when starting up a new army.

It's wise to have around 8-12 activations in 3000 pts. Try to go for a balance of resilent units that will still be fighting hard in turn 3 and some smaller ones for extra activations and strategic maneuver.

AA is a must. Even though it doesn't have to be in every fm, you should aim to have a good AA umbrella that covers your entire force. No-matter how poor your army's AA choices, take some, even if it's just for the blast markers on air assaulting enemy units.

A lot of armies find it useful to have at least 2 fms to act as garrisons and start on an objective in overwatch. Slow moving, relatively resilient fms make ideal choices. Fms such as Broadsides, guard infantry platoons, big gunz etc all make for excellent garrisons and make it that much harder for your enemy to capture objectives.

Try to avoid having 2 "Break Their Spirit" (Shortened to BTS from here on out) fms. The BTS is your most expensive unit and it is one of the enemies objectives to kill it. If you have 2 fms of the same cost as your most expensive, the enemy can kill either one, giving them twice the opportunity.

Don't take weedy BTS units in favour of trying to up your activation count. A good beefy BTS is much more important than having a few extra activations which will generally have melted away and been dealt with by the important turns (3&4).

Try to avoid making your supreme commander fm, also your BTS unit. This provides a no-brainer target for your enemy as it gains him the BTS objective and denies you your supreme commander re-roll in a really rather tasty little twoforone.

Next up will be some basic gaming tips. If anyone else feels the need to add anything while i'm away please feel free.

Re: Stomp's guide to epic, hints and tips for noobies.

Looks like good advice.

-Don't Intermingle (have 2 or more formations with units within 5cm of each other). It allows the opponent to engage all Intermingled formations as one enemy unit and if they do it right- break them all.

-Scout is an invaluable special ability. It seemed inconsequential to me when I started but it allows you to do many things:*Deploy a line of spread out Scout units to prevent the enemy moving passed them*Deploy around a vital formation (such as artillery), but not intermingled, so that Air Assaults/Teleport Assaults/etc must deal with them first.*Move close to an enemy formation that is high in firepower, rubbish in assault- they can't Sustain as they must move out of your Zone of Control.

-Remember killing the enemy is secondary, the mission is primary. I'm still struggling to achieve this, but it is important. You can chase the enemy around, smash big scary formations, but if he sneaks onto objects with speed and/or small formations you couldn't get too he wins- even if his army is vastly depleted compared to yours.

Re: Stomp's guide to epic, hints and tips for noobies.

Some very good advice there Si. If i may add:

Try not to fall into the trap of simply responding to your enemy. Responsive players are quite predictable and the easiest to lure into a trap. Try to target fms that have not yet activated. If you can break them then you'll even up/take the lead in the activation count and even if you don't, by placing a blast marker you'll make them harder to activate and make it harder for your opponent to put his own plan into operation.

Try to think ahead to the next turn. If your army has a low strategy rating e.g. Nids/Guard chances are very good you'll be going second for most turns. Plan for this and don't leave your arse hanging out at the end of the turn.

ALWAYS prep engagements. If you don't have a good +3 advantage to the roll off before going in, then it's going to be a dicey one and you have no right to complain if the dice gods punish you. You took a gamble and lost. That being said, sometimes it can't be helped and things can get a bit desperate. Don't base your plans around these dicey engagements though.

If the opportunity rises, it's a good idea to target the enemy's small fms in the early game. Break them/kill them and you will gain an activation advantage in the later, more important turns. This is especially true when playing against "Popcorn" armies (These are armies that have lots of small fms to give them a large activation advantage.)

Try not to let single stands/vehicles from fms that have been pummelled by you in previous turns and have subsequently rallied live. This can be really annoying and has lost me a few games. Unless you're really struggling, try to finish these fms off in the turn that you break/ cripple them.

Don't rush your fms forward unsupported. This is especially true when playing against very mobile enemies like Marines or Eldar. When i play vs marines i will often move my AA forward and then retain to move a supporting fm forward with them to provide them both with AA cover and resilience against being engaged from the sky. A tank company is not that hard to deal with when it is isolated in the middle of the field. However give it some support and it becomes a monster.

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Re: Stomp's guide to epic, hints and tips for noobies.

Aye all very good advice there guys.I suggest you make this topic sticky, it's very useful but not really resources.

The only thing I'd add to it is try to have at least a rough idea of any special rules your opponent may benefit from (Eldar are a good example here, but some of the more 'exotic' playtest lists have a fair few too), it's easy to be caught out by not expecting them.

Re: Stomp's guide to epic, hints and tips for noobies.

The good thing about epic is that the special rules are quite simple and easy to remember, especially compared to a game like fantasy or 40K.

Is it worth noting the special rules for each race here too?

Sod it, i've got nothing else to do:

Eldar:

Hit and run: In effect allows you to shoot before or after a move. E.g. Eldar can shoot and then move or move and then shoot. With a double action the eldar could: shoot, move, move/ move, shoot, move/ move, move, shoot. The -1 for doubling still takes effect though. In addition Eldar can make a full move rather than just 5/10cm that everyone else gets if they win an engagement.

Farsight: Allows the Eldar to retain the initiative twice in a row once per turn as long as there's a model on the field that has the farsight ability. Fms containing units with farsight also don't apply the -1 modifier to retaining the initiative.

Avatar: Can be summoned within 15cm of a farseer and lasts for 1 turn.

Pulse: A weapon denoted as having pulse fires 2 shots.

Lance: A weapon that has the lance special ability does not allow rienforced armour saves (Like a poor man's Macro weapon).

Holofields: Allows the model an unmodified 3+ save against all hits including MW and TK weapons.

Webway: Eldar players can hold fms in reserve to enter play through the webway. This is done either through a storm serpent super heavy tank or a webway portal which replaces one of the objectives placed in the eldar half of the table. If fms are unable to enter play due to portals being destroyed or blocked then they count as being destroyed.

May not garrison: Only rangers and war walkers may garrison.

So quite a few there for the eldar but none are too complicated and are relatively easy to remember.

Guard:

Free commisars: These little buggers are annoying as they add inspiring and leader to guard units as well as being fearless. Usually resulting in lots of fearless shadow swords and units with attached commisars running around turn 3 after their parent fms have been all but wiped out.

Marines:

And They Shall Know No Fear (ATSKNF): It takes 2 blast markers per unit to break a marine fm and in addition takes 2 BMs to destroy a broken marine unit. Correct me if i'm wrong but marines also half the no of BMs they have in an engagement to work out who has the most for the purposes of engagement resolution (Although 1 BM always counts when deciding the does the unit have any blast markers stipulation).

Anyone want to take care of Chaos and Orks? (Or correct any mistakes i may have made)

Re: Stomp's guide to epic, hints and tips for noobies.

Aye, your correct for the Marines- they halve the BM when comparing with the opponent. This only affects the +1 for having more BM but it can be vital in close engagements. I nearly always forget this part of the Marine rules however...

Re: Stomp's guide to epic, hints and tips for noobies.

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Re: Stomp's guide to epic, hints and tips for noobies.

Marine Leaders now remove 2 BM also.

Also remember to use the 5 min warm up to agree how you will handle terrain, swap army lists and run through any 'counts as' models.Its during this process that I remind my opponents of any special rules that are a bit obscure, for some reason it still shocks some people that the wraith gate in a storm serpent can be used when its broken

Re: Stomp's guide to epic, hints and tips for noobies.

Belated updates for Chaos and Orks:

Orks:

Low iniative rating (3+ to activate), but get +2 bonus for 'aggressive' actions (double, engage, ground attack and I think Intercept)Don't take Blast Markers for dead GrotsGet bonuses to rally depending on the number of Orks still alive (+2 if more than 10 units, +1 if more than 5)

Chaos:

Most formations must chose a mark (undivided, khrone, tzeetch, nurgle or slannesh) this influeces which types of upgrades they can take and Daemons they can summon. In the LaTD list, the mark resticts the choice of support formations too. There is a -1 activation roll penalty for 'opposed' formations (Khrone vs Slannesh and Nurgle vs Tzeetch) within 30cm. I've yet to see anyone actually take a list with opposed formations.

Can buy a Daemon 'Pool' (of greater and lesser Daemons). Formations can buy a 'Daemonic Pact' upgrade allowing them to summon 2D3 worth (lesser cost 1 each, greater cost 8) of Daemons from the pool BEFORE activating, the sorts of Daemons you can choose from depends on the mark you chose. At the end of the turn any Daemons which are still alive and unbroken go back in the poolunits can get access to the 'Augment Summoning' (which allows more Daemons to to summoned) and the 'Daemonic Focus' ability which prevents the Daemons going back in the pool at the end of the turn.